Qalandiya - returning to Gaza loaded with heavy luggage
Over thirty people and many more bags and pieces of luggage filled to bursting and too heavy to carry left the checkpoint compound, headed for the transport platform and boarded the two vehicles designated to take them to Gaza.
For a reasonable person, the sight of so many pieces of luggage is followed by wondering what it is that they feel compelled to carry back home? But living in the Gaza Strip, under siege for so many years now and with its inhabitants’ everyday lives means simply limitations and want, restrictions and need that does not resemble the routine life of the reasonable person anywhere else in these parts.
While this cargo was being loaded onto the vehicles it became evident yet again that there is not enough space, and again the driver suggested to the passengers to hire a cab for their luggage, and again a verbal fight broke out arguing over who was to pay the extra fee.
Ever since a policeman knocked on my door some weeks ago in order to take me to the police car parked on the sidewalk against traffic regulations and drive me to the Rehovot police station, and since that policeman bore two kinds of weapon on his person – a handgun and a taser – I have been wondering why the policemen in the West Bank carry only a handgun and no taser. Especially in view of the fright that this taser brought into my home has caused me, for weeks I have been trying to understand this gap in arms between here and there…
This time, at the checkpoint, when a policeman struck up a conversation with me, I used the opportunity to ask him. My conversant said that the policemen at Qalandiya do have tasers in addition to the usual handguns, but not one for every policeman but rather one taser per five policemen. They prefer not to carry it.
So perhaps this was the reason I never saw one, even if I think that my home area (inside the Israeli central region) is less dangerous than the West Bank, but perhaps it is no less so?
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
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Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint up to mid 2019 Three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards. A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya. In February 2019, the new facility of the checkpoint was inaugurated aiming to make it like a "border crossing". The bars and barbed wire fences were replaced with walls of perforated metal panels. The check is now performed at multiple stations for face recognition and the transfer of an e-card. The rate of passage has improved and its density has generally decreased, but lack of manpower and malfunctions cause periods of stress. The development and paving of the roads has not yet been completed, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is dangerous, and t the entire vicinity of the checkpoint is filthy. In 2020 a huge pedestrian bridge was built over the vehicle crossing with severe mobility restrictions (steep stairs, long and winding route). The pedestrian access from public transport to the checkpoint from the north (Ramallah direction) is unclear, and there have been cases of people, especially people with disabilities, who accidentally reached the vehicle crossing and were shot by the soldiers at the checkpoint. In the summer of 2021, work began on a new, sunken entrance road from Qalandiya that will lead directly to Road 443 towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At the same time, the runways of the old Atarot airport were demolished and infrastructure was prepared for a large bus terminal. (updated October 2021)
Tamar FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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